Pat Prince from Goldmine Magazine spoke with legendary BLACK SABBATH drummer Bill Ward recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Goldmine Magazine: Don’t you think that the dark and rumored Satanic image of the band was played up too much, and then, in turn, overblown by the media?

Ward: "I think it was something that we continually tried to straighten out through interviews. But it was almost, like ‘But this sells records’ or ‘This sells newspapers, so let’s stay with this.’ We were consistently, nearly daily, saying “No that’s not what we are. No, that’s not what we are representing.’ and there are so many statements like that. We were trying to pull it back and say ‘This is the truth of who we are.’ We got so caught up into it that it took on an identity of its own, and it was thrown around like a huge beach ball across the world. Certain individuals, including the media and tv, would want to hype that or they’d want to declare that as something terrible. It was very controversial for a long time. It’s something where we just went ‘There’s nothing we can do about it. We are powerless over this other dimension that has appeared and is attached to us.’ So we just carried on doing what we do right up til today where you and I are talking about it right now. And I’m glad you have opened up the opportunity for me to have a little chat about it, at least."

Goldmine Magazine: What’s next for Black Sabbath?

Ward: "Well, everybody’s off working, you know. I’ve been talking to Tony (Iommi) in recent months so … and I was with him and Glenn (Hughes) at the funeral for Ron (Ronnie James Dio). And I think Terry (Geezer) … Terry is just trying to get past the death of Ronnie and where it’s gonna go next. Then Ozzy’s embarking on a huge tour. He’s going out on the road for quite a considerable amount of time. But I speak to him all the time."

Goldmine Magazine: What do you think about Ozzy’s new album, Scream, by the way?

Ward: "What I like about his new album, is I like where his voice is at. His voice is as clear as a bell. He’s coming through. he has conviction. and he’s very clear and he’s very precise on everything. His voice is really commanding throughout all the tracks. I think it’s very good myself

But as far as Sabbath, Black Sabbath, as the original band. I’m not aware of any plans or anything but at the same time, I know we’re all conversing to each other. I’m not aware of any walls or bad vibes with anybody.

I always have the hope that if everything is okay and everything is amicable then we can tour again. I would love to do that, as long as everything’s in order with me. I’d love to move ahead, not only tour but I’d love to make a new record as well, another Sabbath record. That, to me, would be the ultimate. But I would also love to do a longer tour. The last tour we did was nice, it lasted about three and a half months. But the thing is we were so settled in — and you got to get your joints back together and your muscles, all you have to do to get yourself really well-tuned — by the time we were half way between the last tour I felt really well-tuned and then in no time at all we had to stop, and I was just like ‘Fuck!’ Let’s take this around the world, man. This is great.’ We had to stop and that was a bit of a pisser. That was the only problem. It takes quite a while to take a 62-year old body and get it to be ready to play in Black Sabbath. And me and Ozzy, we are really physical onstage. so we really have to be in shape. And all the Reunion dates, as far as playing is concerned, had been beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, onstage it was just the best. I had a really good time. A really good time."

Read more here.